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Social Studies

Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge. We are inspired by project based learning and excited to incorporate it into our everyday learning. Recently, entire schools are taking this approach to teaching. With so many resources at our fingertips, it’s easy to try these new teaching and learning methods with our students. With our 1:2 ratio of iPads in the classroom, technology is often a major factor in...Read more

It is that time again for the preparation of the annual Geography Bee at Rossman School. Every year, the fourth through sixth graders brave the unknown and take a risk with the GeoBee, and every year I am asked “why do we do this?” This year, instead of saying “because it’s tradition” I decided to talk with the students and together figure out, why do we have the GeoBee?

While yes, tradition is one reason, we also talked about how our world is ever changing and that can feel overwhelming to us. Students feel these same challenges in social studies and when they witness what is...Read more

Have you ever given any thought to how you learn? In social studies, students were asked to complete a questionnaire to see what learning style best describes them. The goal was to provide students the opportunity to reflect and see how they learn in hopes they would use that information to help them study for a test or complete their homework.

A learning style is an individual’s approach to learning based on strengths, weaknesses and preferences. And knowing yourself as a learner is important if you want to achieve to the best of your ability. When it comes to processing...Read more

When integrated in intentional and meaningful ways, technology goes hand in hand with the 6 C’s of education: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, communication, citizenship, and character education. These life skills are critical for success in our ever-changing world, and Rossman educators cultivate each of them on a daily basis by enhancing students’ learning through technology that is visible in many forms. By giving our students accessibility to technology when needed, we give them a choice in their voice to the world.

Students are constantly asking, why do we write current events? We study history in social studies, why write about what is going on now? These are questions that one student answered in class the other day. “We study the past so we don’t repeat it, and we read about what is going on now so we know what is happening and how it affects us now and in the future.” A simple statement, but one that makes you think.

According to Edward F. DeRoche, author of The Newspaper: A Reference for Teachers and Librarians, children must learn how to use nonfiction materials to expand their...Read more

It is a true blessing to bring classroom learning alive for students. Rossman School does this each spring with the sixth graders on a four-day, three-night field trip. This is often referred to as the “Space Camp Trip” as the bulk of our trip is spent in Huntsville, Alabama, but the reality is, we also experience a whole lot more!

This year the trip began on Tuesday, April 18. All students arrived at school, loaded their luggage and hopped on the bus. By Tuesday afternoon, we were at the Shiloh National Battlefield in Tennessee. When we arrived, Ranger Charlie greeted us. Ranger...Read more

The quote by Benjamin Franklin, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn,” can speak to many facets of our education system. Allowing students to have a real voice in their education and bringing it to life can help spark a student’s interest in ways that we as teachers might not have thought. In class, we work on making the lessons fun and engaging, but having the privilege to take students on field trips and allowing them to gain first hand experience on a topic can prove invaluable to the learning and retention process.

Students at Rossman School placed first among sixth graders and second among fifth graders in the National Geography Challenge this spring.

In the nationwide challenge, the scores of the top 10 students are combined to determine the team score. Rossman’s sixth grade class won its division, recording a team average of 88%. Also averaging 88%, the fifth grade team finished just 21 points behind the national champions.

The National Geography Challenge is sponsored by the National Council for Geographic Education. The written exam tests general knowledge of geography, map skills...Read more

What do learning the nine steps required to fire a Civil War musket, Ivy Green, Space Shot, the Multi-Axis Trainer, IMAX movies, the march in Selma, Alabama, and a really, really, really long bus ride have in common? These were the thrills that we experienced on our sixth grade class trip to the Civil War Battlefield at Shiloh, Tennessee, to Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, and then to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis Tennessee. All together, we traveled through seven states.

Rossman School fifth grader Logan D. was among 100 students to compete in the Missouri Geographic Bee on April 1 at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The contest was part of the National Geographic Society’s National Geographic Bee. It is the 28th year students from thousands of schools across the United States and its territories have participated in the challenging oral test of geographic knowledge.

Competing alongside students in grades 4 through 8, Logan answered dozens of difficult questions during the state bee,...Read more